More than 230 volunteers fanned out across 14 sites — doing everything from weeding and composting at Urban Adamah in Berkeley to singing for residents at a local senior center — during East Bay Tikkun Olam Day.
The fourth annual all-volunteer event on April 10 drew adults and children from a number of East Bay synagogues, day schools and other Jewish organizations. Some 17 different activities were performed throughout the day.
Volunteers packed 18,500 pounds of apples at the Alameda County Community Food Bank, made approximately 100 phone calls to homebound shut-ins and decorated 90 bags for Jewish Family & Community Services of the East Bay’s Passover “seder sacks,” according to Tikkun Olam Day co-chair Shelley Zak.
Participants wrote postcards in support of gun control and measures to limit global warming, made blankets for children at Highland Hospital, knit nests for rescued baby birds, wrote letters to Israeli soldiers and helped spruce up the grounds of North Oakland Community Charter School.
The Jewish Federation of the East Bay helped fund the effort, while Alameda-based Semifreddi’s provided pastries for the volunteers.